


A Million Iterations of The Same Thing

by FuneralCake



Series: It Feels More Like a Memory [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, Indra and Asura are good brothers, Kurama needs a hug, M/M, Obito is confused, Past Lives, Reincarnation, Self-Indulgent, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Time-travel ex machina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24592873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuneralCake/pseuds/FuneralCake
Summary: They are Naruto and Sasuke. Asura and Indra. New iterations of a thousand lifetimes. New faces to carry new and old names.When their father finally meets them again, he swears to trust his children this time. To trust both of them. So he blesses them, and sends them back to when they are needed most.They come just in time to stop a rampaging tailed beast and save the death of the fourth. What else could they change? What else should they?
Relationships: Bijuu | Tailed Beasts & Ootsutsuki Asura & Ootsutsuki Indra, Bijuu | Tailed Beasts & Uzumaki Naruko, Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Obito, Hatake Kakashi/Uzumaki Naruto, Namikaze Minato & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto
Series: It Feels More Like a Memory [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818280
Comments: 38
Kudos: 526





	1. Chapter 1

Everything was going to hell. No one knew where Minato was, the ninetails was rampaging in the village and no one knew what to do.

Hiruzen is standing before the towering beast. It's chakra so oppressive and full of hate that he has to flare his just to fight it off. He needs to buy time and keep it's attention on him while his shinobi evacuate the village. Hopefully Minato would arrive soon. If anyone has hopes of sealing away the beast, it would be him.

The figure looms closer. It roars and lifts an angry paw. Hiruzen braces himself with chakra and prepares to catch it, except it never lands.

A figure stands in front of him, shockingly white in the dark of the night. He is pale as snow, from the lengthy white hair to the one armed robes he wears, broken here and there by accents of blue. Even the sword case, which Hiruzen notes is unsheathed, is pale.

He stands up straight, an arm to his jutted hips while the Kyubi seems to have frozen in front of him.

"Kurama," the stranger barks one word and he sees the fox's face smoothen, eyes widening. The rage and anger is gone, replaced by sheer disbelief. Even more so when the stranger flares chakra so potent and pure it feels almost like the Kyubi without the taste of hatred and malice.

"You..." The fox's voice was rough, and Hiruzen was not prepared for it to speak. Was not prepared for the hurt and disbelief in the entity that they all thought was nothing but a mindless beast. "How are you here." _Alive,_ he doesn't say but Hiruzen hears it anyways.

"Asura too," the stranger responds and the Fox's eyes widen further. The third is even more unprepared for the hint of fear he sees in them.

"A..asura?" It's almost comical, how the massive beast's ears droop, his tails dropping slowly, almost mindful of where they fall.

"Uhuh, Asura's here too. Now how do you think would he react if he finds you throwing a tantrum like a week old kit?" The man lectures and impossibly, the fox's ears droop a bit more and it takes a tentative sit in front of them.

Hiruzen is gaping. As is every other shinobi he is with. This stranger has saved them, stopped the rampaging fox in front of them with a few choice words as if it were a mere disobedient puppy.

"I didn't do it!" If Hiruzen could swear drop right now, he would. The whine the Kyubi gives is entirely childish and does not remove the image of a toddler being chastised by it's guardian. "The humans made me do it! And then they had the _gall_ to lock me up like I'm some mere beast!" It snarls and rages and Hiruzen is hit with a surprising amount of shame.

He thinks back on how the jinchuuriki started. Of Madara controlling the beast, and Mito sealing it into herself when they didn't know what to do with it after. Then the capture and sealing of the rest of the tailed beasts, who really didn't want anything to do with people before.

"I know," the man, Indra, said. He jumps forward, landing in front of the tailed beast who lowers his head to look the other man in the eye.

"I know the pain, little one." Hiruzen's eyebrow raises here, because there is nothing little about the tailed beast. "But you should know better than to lash out in hatred. Father has taught us better."

"Father wouldn't have created us just to be sealed into human's either, Indra!" the fox snarls and that makes Hiruzen stop short. Because he has heard of that before. Of the origin of the tailed beasts once, and for this two to call one person father..

"I know, Kurama. But it is needed. We need you safe, brother. Come, Asura is waiting," and before Hiruzen could say anything the two vanish in a whirl of chakra.

He is moving before he realizes, going to where he knew Minato is, even as he sees the Kyuubi materialize into being in the same direction. He bark's orders for evacuation and medical attention to the shinobi he leaves behind and allows Kakashi to accompany him by his side.

\----------

"Kurama!!!" Sasuke, or rather, Indra, sighs. He had expected this. He ignores the gaping fourth, who was cradling a crying baby Naruto with a dead Kushina in his lap, and moves to sit directly on top of one, passed out, Obito Uchiha.

It is entirely unnecessary of course. He's sealed so tightly, he wouldn't even be able to twitch his fingers, much less use the kamui. It's petty, but he has never claimed to be anything else otherwise.

"So, what has the idiot told you?" He finally asks, gesturing to Naruto, Asura, who is cuddling Kurama and giving the gigantic fox neck rubs. A memory, of Kurama just as tall as Indra is with too wide paws and too big eyes, flashes into his mind and he snorts at his brother.

He turns back to Minato who is once again staring at Asura. "Has he told you he's your kid yet?" It has the desired effect of getting every inch of the blonde's attention, and he blatantly disregards Asura's indignant protests. "We agreed he'd be the best person to know, dobe."

"I already told him the future Teme!" For all that he is a formidable shinobi now, Naruto still flails and sputters as he makes his way back to them. Kurama follows soon after, eyes still half droopy the way it gets after he's been scratched in that spot behind the ears. "He didn't need to know that."

"I really think I would want to know something like that, Asura-kun," Minato disagrees, eyes soft. "Or should I call you Naruto?"

"Ah, I think I'm much more than just Naruto now," He answers with a rueful smile. This makes Kurama's eyes open wide, finally paying attention to the conversation. "We're as much Asura and Indra as we are Naruto and Sasuke."

"For what it's worth, I am proud of you." Minato finally said with a soft smile.

Sasuke let's them have their moment. He isn't rude enough to do that to the dobe right now who he knows wanted nothing more than to be acknowledged by his father even though the man is just shy a decade older than them now.

Still he senses other shinobi approaching, and he turns to the two. "We need to talk about what's going to happen. Now."


	2. Chapter 2

"There used to be a pond there," Asura hummed with a soft smile, looking at a rather empty part of the hokage mansion gardens.

"I remembered dunking Tobirama there," Indra said with a smirk. "He hissed like a rather grumpy cat."

"He flooded the Uchiha compounds after. Gods, the paperwork," Asura shuddered, before he beamed at Indra. "You remember!!!" 

"Of course I did, idiot," he rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I had to fish Indra out of the flood." His eyes softened at the thought of his brother, before it inevitably drifted to another, much more recent brother.

"He'd be seven, right about now," Asura mused. "I bet chibi Itachi would be really cute."

"Fugaku's son, Itachi?" Minato asked, finally joining the conversation.

"My brother," Indra replied, agreeing and disagreeing both. His brother had been raised to be clan heir. To grow in their father's shadow. But Itachi chose Sasuke. Chose Indra. Itachi saved him, lived for him, died for him, chose him over clan. Over village. Itachi was more his brother than he was Fugaku's son.

"You'll have to look after him this time," Asura reminded him, gentler this time. The idiot slows slightly, falling into step with him before draping his ridiculously heavy arms over Indra. "You get to he the big brother this time!"

He is entirely justified when he grabs the idiots arm and flips him onto the floor.

\------

Dinner is a quiet affair. Asura is holding a fussy Naruto, coaxing Minato to eat. Kakashi is a pale shadow, barely touching anything, buzzing with barely held energy and Sasuke is pushing food around his plate.

There had been one casualty. While the numbers spoke of a victory they didn't have before, the loss of Kushina Uzumaki was something they would mourn.

Obito was still bound, sealed shut tighter than Danzo's records in the depths of T&I. They will be handling his seal tomorrow, after a good night's rest and some thinking.

Rehabilitation and repair would be handled then too. They would need all lower ranked shinobi turning to repairs while the higher ranked ones on missions to amass as much income as they can.

Plans for the future need to be tackled too. They would need to construct a timeline, and plan accordingly. Allies and enemies would need to be identified.

But all of that could wait for the morning. For now, they are alive, the village is safe and Obito is home. They can rest for a while.

\----

It's weird now, Asura thinks, walking into the kage office. He remembers being the one on the Kage seat, once long ago. He remembers sending his brother off numerous times. He remembers arguing with Madara, so many times.

"Hey, they took down that hideous painting you liked so much" Indra noted with a smirk, jostling him out of his thoughts. He probably did it on purpose.

"Mito-hime gifted it to me," he defended. 

"I think Tobirama hid it somewhere." he offered with a grin.

Eventually they settle around Minato's desk, Kakashi behind him and Indra by Asura's side with little Naruto in his father's arms. Outside the village is loud with the sounds of running feet and striking hammers.

The village is rebuilding.

"So what are your plans," Minato finally asked the two, pulling out several documents. Asura has seen enough documentation to know registration forms.

"Travel," Indra said quietly. "We'll take care of Konoha's enemies. Even those we've yet to see." There's a grim determination in him and his brother's eyes, that makes Minato feel all of his age.

This was his and Kushina's son with Mikoto and Fugaku's. Just eighteen and they've somehow become something akin to a god, remembering past lives. He feels like he's failed his child somehow, but he's also inexplicably proud.

"I'll register you both. We'll need to come up with a family tree for you and explain away your ancestry," Minato said. "How are you both related?" 

"We're brothers," they chorused, Asura grinning and Indra long suffering.

"Half brothers?" Asura offered, and Indra nodded. "I'm of My mother's a Namikaze. And Indra's an Uchiha. Our father would be Haguromo Otsutsuki."

"Uchiha Kagane," Indra said. "Assumed KIA from a two year undercover mission. That would make me Shisui's first cousin. We'll set tracks to make sure we existed."

"I don't... Actually know much about my family. Other than my parents' names. I'm sorry. No one wanted to tell me anything so," Asura scratched his cheek and a pang went through Minato. This was what became of Naruto in his initial plan. "Oh wait! Umm, our gennin sensei mentioned and you had an Aunt? Um, Akiko?"

"Yeah," Minato said with a wry smile. "That could work. Aunt Akiko died a few months ago. You two could have been staying with her. She's living in a secluded farm in the outskirts of Wind country."

"Almost entirely too convenient," Naruto mused. "Oh and... Uh... Watch out for Danzo. He's going to sow dissent amongst the Uchiha and start a whisper campaign against them. It had, in my time, pushed them into a coup. It's what he did to Sakumo Hatake." His expression turned bitter. Meanwhile Kakashi's lone eye widened.

"I'm sorry, what?" he barked, eyes focused, posture stiffening.

"He kept sabotaging your father's missions. Eventually he built it up to that one mission that supposedly started the war," Indra snarled bitterly. "He then started the same whisper campaign, before..." here he winced, before looking at Asura for help.

"He sent an agent to.. Kill your father. And frame it as a suicide," Asura muttered and he moved to block the window before Kakashi could leap out, eyes livid.

"He wanted to clear the way and remove all Hokage candidates," Indra said grimly, putting a firm hand on Kakashi's arm. "He had tricked Orochimaru into the experimentation, made him believe all of it was sanctioned before letting Hiruzen discover him. He effectively got rid of all the other Kage candidates. He's dangerous."

"We'll need to do something about him," Minato said grimly.

"We don't know his organization enough to know whose in it," Indra said bitterly. "They've even infiltrated Anbu. He's tortured and brainwashed child soldiers, bred them to be emotionless before sealing their tongues to keep them from talking. They can be rehabilitated if you remove Danzo, but he's always guarded."

"We'll need to bring Shikaku and Inoichi into that," Minato said. "If anyone could figure out who's who, it would be those two. Maybe even Ibiki. I don't think Danzo would have had the chance to get his claws into them."

"You're right, they're clear. However, I think Obito would be the best asset for an enemy like Danzo," Asura said softly. "He should be able to slip in and out, it's just a matter of getting him functioning first. He has a cursed seal of hatred on his heart, just like what Rin had. It's why he's so messed up. We can fix that."

"We have so much fixing to do," Minato said with a sigh. "What kind of mess did the third leave?" 

"We're here to help," Asura reassured him. "All of us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you guys know how I said I had 8 chapters prewritten? This wasn't one of them. I had to write the entire "day after" scene and readjusted a lot of dynamic things before I figured what I wanted out of this fic.
> 
> It should be a bit more smooth sailing after this.


	3. Chapter 3

Hiashi will never admit it, but his heart was in his throat as he stepped into the Hokage's office. There is relief in his chest and pressure easing off his bones that he refused to acknowledge. He almost lost his heir. _He almost lost Hinata._

Soft, sweet, gentle Hinata who doesn't belong in their world of death and destruction yet is here anyways. Who is so like his wife, that it physically ached whenever he saw her. Who he worried for, every step of the way because the clan is cold and cruel and if they find her weak, she would be branded like cattle and thrown away.

When he stepped into the Hokage's office, he saw two shinobi. He has never met them before but he knows exactly who these two are. They were too distinct, to be mistaken for anyone else. Indra and Asura Otsutsuki, who had apparently returned to the village just in time to save his daughter.

Hinata was asleep in Asura's arms. She had most likely worn herself out due to the adrenaline and shock. She is tucked into his arms, curled under his chin, looking tired but relatively safe. His brother, Indra, is holding a foreign shinobi captive for all that he doesn't look like it. He has a hand on the shinobi's lower back, on a seal that is most likely the only thing keeping the kumo nin in place.

"Ah, Hiashi," Minato's smile is bright as he looks at him. It makes the other shinobi turn to look at him as well and Hiashi fights down a gulp at a pair of pale, pupil-less blue and a pair of darker violet with concentric rings and tomoe. He understands now why Shikaku had called them otherworldly, when asked to describe. 

Asura approached him, handing a sleeping Hinata who he takes into his arms with ease. She is well. Her heart is beating steadily and her breaths puffs repeatedly against his chest. It takes but a split second, to assess how she is and reassure his thumping heart she is alive, before he settles into something less frantic and allows himself to assess the situation.

First to catch his attention are the Otsutsuki brothers. Everyone knows that shinobi are assassins. Warriors cloaked in shadows, slipping in the dark of the night. The further you are from that, the more eye catching you are, the greater a target you would make.

Hyuga are known to dress in pale colors and keep long hair. It's a statement that they could back up, because of their eyes. You cannot sneak on a Hyuga.

These men are dressed, not in pale creams and grays, but in stark, eye catching white. 

It could be arrogance, but recent news says it probably is not. These two are powerful. It is there in how they stand, heads straight and backs unguarded as if daring the world to dare. It is there in the shade and lengths of their hair. Curtains of brilliant white falling well down to their lower backs, that is as much a beacon as it is a statement. Even more obvious are their clothes, with excess of cloth in the flowing haori and cuts of their sleeves. In the rope like obi trailing behind them. In every stretch of the heavy fabric, shockingly white and bordered by brilliant blue for Indra and bright orange for Asura.

They were fighting with flowing hair and clothing an enemy could easily grab, looking more like something from a Daimyo's court if not for the obvious care put into making their outfits easy to move in. With loud shocking colors that draw the eye. They were strong, unabashedly and unapologetically so.

"Thank you," He tells them, bowing.

"You are welcome, Hyuga-dono," Indra is the one who replied while the brother nodded in agreement.

"The shinobi who took her is from Kumo. He'll be spending quality time with T&I while I make negotiations with Ei," Minato told him with a bright smile that promised violence and retribution for the peole behind this. Hiashi answers with a smile of his own. Minato is feared and respected enough to make sure Kumo doesn't cheat them out of their justice. He has faith. 

"I see. I expect to be informed of how the negotiations and interogation turns out then, Hokage-sama," Hiashi said. There is nothing left for him to do here. Minato is terrifyingly competent and reliable. He has always been and the Hyuuga clan head believed in him.

"Of course Hiashi. Young Hinata must be tired, you are free to take her home." He heard the dismissal clearly, and he bowed before leaving. He will figure out how to thank the Otsutsuki later. It is important to acknowledge such things after all. It would reflect badly on the clan otherwise. Meanwhile, he has daughters to tuck in and care for.

\-----------

"Well you boys have certainly been busy," Minato said with a bright grin after Hiashi left and the Kumo-nin is taken to T&I. The two of them have stayed out of the village, taking care of a majority of their future enemies before they grow into too big of a threat.

With Obito already taken care of immeadiately upon return, left under the care of Minato and Kakashi under tight seal and key, they were free to pursue Zetsu and seal the Geddo Mazo. They had left Konoha not even two weeks after arriving. Just enough for Minato to make his announcements of what happened, file the appropriate paperwork and introduce the two of them to the village. They had both gone back on the road to handle things soon after.

They had taken care of Hidan, Kakuzu and Sasori first, going for the unaffiliated ones they could find before they handled the messier aspects. They had infiltrated as many of Orochimaru's bases as they could find after dealing with the sannin himself, which had taken a year all on it's own. They had then stolen the geddo mazo, sealing it back into the moon tighter than ever, and rescued what they could of the scrolls and books from the ruins of Uzushio, before they went for Ame and Asura manged to talk Nagato into siding with them.

"We may have accidentally brokered and alliance and peace agreements with Ame," Asura admits with a sheepish grin, scrathcing his neck.

"And we stole all of Orochimaru's notes," Indra added after.

"Oh and we rescued sealing theory from Uzushio," Asura adds as an afterthought and Minato's eyes widen, eyes glinting. It makes Indra snort, because he has the exact same expression Asura had when they found the scrolls. He also senses amusement from a familiar spark of chakra nearbye and realizes that Kakashi is apparently on guard duty.

Of course he would be, given that he's the only other person entrusted with the secret of their identities.

"So, how long are you staying this time?" Minato asks, eyeing them eagerly and it makes something in Sasuke soften. He is loath to admit it, but he has grown fond of Minato. Hard not to when he is every bit as charismatic and genuine as Naruto, just calmer and less prone to flailing.

They had spent lest than a month in the village since they got back from the past. Yet every time they came back, Minato greeted them with fondness, worrying himself over not only Asura, but Indra too. As if both of them were family.

For someone who had grown up, first in a strct and distant household, and much later in a cold, empty one, Minato has grown to be like how Sasuke envisioned family to be when he allowed himself to daydream as a kid. Kind and caring, worried but not suffocating, ultimately with utter faith in his abilities.

And of course Asura knows it.

There is only one person in the world who knows Indra better than himself, and it's the idiot standing beside him. Who gives him a grin, because apparently Asura caught how his eyes softened.

"We think we'll be staying this time," Asura responds for him and he sees Minato's eyes widen with hope even as he beams.

"Zetsu will come when he comes." Indra agrees. "There is no point in spending years tracking someone who vanishes as soon as he appears."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been missing for a little over a month. I know. I'm sorry. My muses had been gone for a bit. I also, accidentally stumbled into PM Saymore's discord which is where I've been spending all my time recently. I'll try to get back to writing soon but it's been hard after my laptop died. Writing without a keyboard is hell and writing on my phone just feels plain, uncomfortable.
> 
> I'm sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> Should I start another fic? Probably not. Buuut my brain was urging me to and next thing I know, this bunny had 8 chapters staring back at me, daring me not to upload it. Alas, I AM just human, so I did upload it anyways.


End file.
